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AN INTERLUDE

Day after day, as measured and plain
As posters registering the main
Medical figures and healthy norms,
He spends surrounded by ready forms,
A pharmacist, a drudge to the shoes...
In his past life he was a mongoose,
Many an evil snake's death he brought
About, till a hunter avenged the lot,
Ending his song.  And sadly deceased
This useful, courageous, diligent beast
Stays silent on a museum shelf
Stuffed by an expert.. Control yourself,
Don't even dream of pulling its tail,
In its past life it braved frozen trails -
A polar exlorer. Mid ice and rock
He whistled sofly "Ziganshin rock"
Hearing the tune, his waddling, tame
Penguin would come out and bend its frame
In a bow, funny short wings sticking up...
In its past life it had quite a job -
A fireman, who lived life on the brink,
Who rode on an ass-drawn water tank
With the ass so slow, despite the lash
That the quarter had time to burn to ash.
When the whole city burned down to grass,
The fire devoured even the ass,
And not a trace was left of its hide.
In its past life it was southern pride,
A vibrant evergreen shrub. A boxtree
Grown from the Black to the Caspian Sea.
It symbolized, with each tangled coil
The joining of the sun and the soil,
It burgeoned, flourished, sang in the breeze,
Its wood was made into furniture. Is
That your new chair?  Rumors are rife.
It was Copernicus in a past life...